The two candidates for Salisbury mayor met Wednesday night for the the first debate of 2013 election and voters received a sample of what they have to look forward to. At Wednesday's NAACP forum, incumbent mayor Jim Ireton set the tone for the campaign by implying that challenger Joe Albero is a racist: "It’s become abundantly clear that my opponent on his website is someone who sees color. I don't."

SBYNews publisher Joe Albero chose not to directly respond to Ireton's attacks during the forum. Afterwards, Albero had this to say:

When you can't run on your record, this is the type of politics you can expect. I have a question for the residents of Salisbury - should Jim Ireton be spending his time engaging in the politics of destruction or should he be spending his time trying to solve the problems of Salisbury? A leader would be working to solve problems. Jim is clearly not a leader.

During the course of the debate, Albero did comment that Ireton had four years to create jobs in the city, but hadn't. Ireton's response was to blame the city council for his lack of accomplishment.

The NAACP put on a great event. Unfortunately, the format did not permit a substantive discussion of issues (regardless of Ireton's antics). Allowing only one minute to answer a question simply didn't offer the opportunity to here where candidates really stand on issues. The short answer period was precipitated by the fact that eight candidates appeared at the forum.

At one point in the debate, NAACP president Mary Ashanti was forced to interrupt the proceedings to admonish Ireton (although not by name), "We will not having you come in here to be insulted whether you’re in the audience or up here."

The event was taped for broadcast on PAC-14. It will also be available on YouTube after airing.

The two candidates challenging Salisbury councilwoman Debbie Campbell agree on one thing - they would be opposed to the sun rising if Campbell supported it. On Twitter last night, Daily Times reporter Jeremy Cox posted:
Little daylight between Day and Heath on issues. Seem to agree on most.
Mainly, that they are against everything Campbell has done.

Little daylight between Day and Heath on issues. Seem to agree on most.
Mainly, that they are against everything Campbell has done.

Despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of Campbell's votes have been in support of Ireton's initiatives, opponents Jacob Day and Jack Heath emphasized that they would "work with the mayor" if elected. Campbell noted that it "takes courage to say no. I will do what's best for Salisbury, not some individual."

Day illustrated that his command of the issues was not as strong (or accurate) as he attempted to portray. When asked about what votes he would have made differently, Day cited the "critical areas bill". This bill has not even come before the council yet.

This week's warm Washington temperatures had some thinking about rolling the Lawn-Boy out of the garage for the first cut of the year. And we all know what that means: Difficult starts due to E10 gas that gels when it sits.

Now, according to a new study, cars and truck may face the same fate thanks to President Obama's demand for a higher ethanol in the new E15 gas.

The fuel industry's American Petroleum Institute tested the 15 percent ethanol gas approved in 2010 and found it gums up fuel systems, prompts "check engine" lights to come on, and messes with fuel gauge readings.More

You know you’re no longer living in a free country when the government tells you what you can and cannot put in your body. Or when an unelected board of bureaucrats and corporate insiders can confiscate the assets of hardworking small business owners. Yet these have become par for the course in the Land of the Free. The latest bout involves a family-owned raw milk operation in Missouri that was decimated last week by the heavy hand of government, courtesy of the State Milk Board. Of course, this isn’t even an actual government agency, but rather one of more than 200 such committees in Missouri which wield tsarist authority over their domains. State Milk Board members include both state bureaucrats and corporate leaders from the milk industry. How convenient that a few big producers are given unelected, absolute authority to torpedo a raw milk competitor... And so, last Friday, farm inspectors arrived to confiscate 18 tons of cheese that Morningland Dairy had produced from raw milk. They were met by a small crowd which had gathered to show support for the family… and to denounce these agents of government for carrying out an immoral act on innocent people. It was all captured on video, including the police response.

The Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce and Salisbury University have announced a pair of candidate debates ahead of the citys spring elections.

A City Council debate is scheduled from 7-8:30 p.m. Feb. 19 on the SU campus at Perdue Hall, room 156.

A Feb. 26 primary will decide which two frontrunners move on to the April 2 general election. In District 1, incumbent Shanie Shields faces community activist April Jackson and businesswoman Cynthia Polk. In District 2, incumbent Debbie Campbell faces urban redevelopment activist Jake Day and nonprofit executive Jack Heath.

The winners will debate again from 7-8:30 p.m. March 26 in the Wicomico Room of the Guerrieri University Center.

Prosecutors review surveillance footage at Blue Agave, dismiss chargeBALTIMORE —The co-owner of a popular Federal Hill restaurant in Baltimore is no longer facing a rape charge.Earlier this month, police arrested 29-year-old Matthew Lasimski after a customer claimed she was assaulted inside the bathroom at Blue Agave restaurant in the early morning hours on New Year's Day.

But after viewing surveillance footage, the prosecution decided to dismiss the charges.

“Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear — kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor — with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant funds demanded. Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real.”

An explosion rocked the Mexico City headquarters of state oil giant Pemex on Thursday, killing at least 14 people and injuring 80 others, the government said.

The blast, which media reports said was caused by machinery, hit the lower floors of the downtown building, throwing debris into the streets and sending workers running outside.

Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told Mexican television the blast had killed 14 people and injured 80. It was not yet clear what caused the explosion, and the death toll could still rise, he added.More

Shortly after Mary Gundrum found out that her unborn son was developing with part of his brain outside his skull, she found herself searching the internet to find out more about the baby's diagnosis and potential treatment.

Her next search would be for infant-sized coffins.

"He was only supposed to live a couple of hours," she said.

Instead, baby Dominic was born "screaming and kicking and full of life," but he had a Tessier midline facial cleft, which means the sides of his face didn't fuse together properly during early pregnancy, causing it to split down the middle. Dominic also had an encephalocele, a rare cranial abnormality that means a sac of brain tissue and fluid formed outside the skull. Dominic's encephalocele filled the space between the cleft in his face, splitting his nose in two with a fluid-filled bubble and causing some of his brain matter to sag into his mouth.More

On January 26, 2013, Officers of the Ocean City Police Department responded to 216 Somerset Street, for a report of an unconscious male subject lying on the ground. Upon arrival, officers located the victim, identified as Michael Post. Ocean City EMS transported Post to Atlantic General Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Ocean City Police Detectives investigated this incident and learned that a male, identified as George Daron Nottingham, 39, of Ocean City, had assaulted Post in front of 216 Somerset Street, causing Post to fall and strike his head on the ground.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Maryland determined that Post died of head injuries related to the Assault. On January 31, 2013, OCPD Detectives arrested Nottingham at his residence on Townsend Road in West Ocean City and have charged him with Manslaughter and Second Degree Assault.

Nottingham was seen by an Ocean City District Court Commissioner and is being held on $500,000.00 bond.

Some families could get priced out of health insurance due to what's being called a glitch in President Barack Obama's overhaul law. IRS regulations issued Wednesday failed to fix the problem as liberal backers of the president's plan had hoped.

As a result, some families that can't afford the employer coverage that they are offered on the job will not be able to get financial assistance from the government to buy private health insurance on their own. How many people will be affected is unclear.

The Obama administration says its hands were tied by the way Congress wrote the law. Officials said the administration tried to mitigate the impact. Families that can't get coverage because of the glitch will not face a tax penalty for remaining uninsured, the IRS rules said.More

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission released some water from the dam -- which holds back the waters of Rocky Gorge Reservoir -- on Wednesday in preparation for the overnight storm. But a lot more rain fell than the commission had anticipated, and WSSC has been releasing water from the dam much faster for the last several hours, said spokesman Jerry Irvine.More

SEAFORD, DEL – When it comes to innovation, Peninsula Portable Restrooms has proven time and again it is at the forefront of cleanliness and customer satisfaction in the realm of port-a- potties. The company devised a 10 point system to assure that its facilities exceed standards and improve the experience of its clientele.

Located in Seaford, Del., and servicing the entire Delmarva, Peninsula Portable Restroom maintains the cleanest restrooms in the region. Peninsula Portable Restroom service technicians are trained in an industry leading 10-Point Service Plan that ensures consistent and safe sanitation services at every port-a-potty service location.

Each portable toilet service involves the following steps: 1. Restroom to be placed in a convenient accessible location on level ground.2. Holding tank will be evacuated and interior debris removed.3. Holding tank will be refilled with earth-friendly deodorizer.4. Interior walls, toilet seat, urinal, exterior of holding tank, paper dispenser and floor will be sprayed with disinfectant, cleaned & dried.5. Interior will be sprayed with a special deodorizer.6. If ordered, Hand Sanitizer or Hand Wash Station will be replenished and restocked.7. Toilet paper dispenser will be restocked with 2 rolls.8. Install urinal bock9. Replace scented ring10. Technician will inspect each unit for minor damage or repairs.

“Basically we want our restroom to smell and perform better than any other in the region, no matter what the weather, or the number of people using it,” says John Wiley II, president of the Peninsula Family of companies. “All this is on top of our 10 point cleaning process that uses special brushes, a lot of elbow grease, and most importantly drying with a squeegee and finally a microfiber cloth.”

Peninsula’s staff works with its clients to choose the best restroom for an event. When the day arrives, Peninsula will place the facilities where they are easiest to access for guests. In addition, each room is well stocked with soap, paper products and is perfectly sanitized.

Luxury restroom trailers complement special events. Show guests how much you care by providing true comfort. These units are ideal for outdoor parties, wedding receptions, family reunions or any special occasion. Peninsula Restroom Trailers offer these amenities and more:

· Luxury restrooms appointed in porcelain with stylish hardware

· Atmospheric lighting

· Sinks with fresh running hot and cold water

· Heating and air conditioning

· Solid doors

· Men’s and Women’s facilities

Peninsula recommends reserving a luxury trailer well in advance to ensure availability. Call 302-­629-­3001 or toll free 888-410-9276 for more information.

Peninsula Portable Restroom Services is part of the Peninsula Family of companies with a long history on Delmarva. Founded in 1935 by John Emory Willey, Peninsula Oil & Propane has been handed down from generation to generation and is headed today by John Willey II.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley likes to brag about the No. 1 rating his state's schools have gotten from Education Week for five years in a row.

He also likes to brag about the accomplishments of children educated in them.

So, in his State of the State address on Wednesday, O'Malley put the spotlight on one very special student.

The governor introduced the North County High School student as an inventor, an entrepreneur and a very persistent young man who approached 199 colleges and universities before one finally granted him space to work on a project.More

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's transportation funding plan sailed through an influential House committee Wednesday largely unscathed, paving the way for a House vote early next week.

McDonnell's plan, which would raise $3.1 billion over five years in part by eliminating the 17.5-cent tax on a gallon of gas and raising the sales tax from 5 percent to 5.8 percent, survived Democratic amendments and skepticism from Northern Virginia Republicans over whether the plan would generate enough new revenue to fix the jammed and crumbling roads around the Beltway.

House Finance Committee Chairman Harry Purkey, R-Virginia Beach, acknowledged that the plan has flaws but said advancing it would at least start the debate and negotiations that could reshape the legislation as it moves from the House to the Senate, where it faces greater resistance.More

Virginia Beach has yet to experience a natural disaster on that scale.

But it almost certainly doesn't have long before it will.

NOAA has just released a supplemental report to its National Climate Assessment that focuses on the threats America's coastlines face.

The report includes the following chart, created by Arizona geosciences professor Jeremy Weiss, showing which of America's largest cities have the greatest percentage of area below sea level. When a storm surge from a hurricane hits, it raises the sea level, and those low lying areas are inundated with water. Virginia Beach is third on the list, after New Orleans and Miami:

The heartbreaking gun violence the media chooses to ignore because there would be no political upside in reporting it, continues unabated in Obama's Chicago -- a city run only by Democrats and unions, and with some of the toughest gun controls in the country (see why the media ignores it?). Already this year, 41 people have been murdered in the Windy City, a ten-year record. Yesterday, 15 year-old Hadiya Pendleton was number 42.

Hadiya wasn't a drug dealer or gang member or any kind of troublemaker, as far as we know. She was a lovely, young honor student who enjoyed the privilege of performing with her school band at President Obama's inauguration earlier this month. Yesterday, after an exam, she was gunned down in a Chicago park known to be frequented by gang members.

As I write this, all three cable networks are broadcasting wall-to-wall coverage of congressional gun control hearings. Obama and the Democrats and the media are currently on a crusade to pass laws that would have done nothing to stop the Sandy Hook massacre that supposedly inspired this crusade. And if the slaying of Hadiya Pendleton ends up being what it looks like, those laws would have done nothing to save her young life.More

Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert.

Congress said, "Someone may steal from it at night."

So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?"

So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.

Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?"

So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One was to do the studies and one was to write the reports.

Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?"

So they created two positions, a time keeper and a payroll officer then hired two people.

Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?"

So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, an Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $918,000 over budget, we must cut back."

So they laid off the night watchman.

NOW, slowly, let that sink in.

Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY during the Carter administration?

Anybody? Anything? No? Didn't think so!

Bottom line is, we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency, the reason for which very few people who read this can remember!Ready?

It was very simple ... and at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate.

The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/4/1977, TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

Hey, pretty efficient, huh?

AND NOW IT'S 2012 -- 35 YEARS LATER -- AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS "NECESSARY"DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. IT HAS 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES; AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE!

A West Lanham firefighter injured in an early morning crash with a tractor-trailer underwent nine hours of surgery to reattach his severed arm, ABC 7 is reporting.

Well-wishers left messages of support and prayers for Lt. Ryan Emmons on the West Lanham Hills Volunteer Fire Department's Facebook page as Emmons returned for another round of surgery Wednesday evening for a small complication, the department reported on its website.

The department says the next 72 hours are critical and that veins were taken from his legs to repair the ones torn in his arms.More

I did not attend the forum last night for the NAACP at the First Baptist Church last night because i feel that the Church should NOT be involved in a self outed gay Mayor, as a christian i would hope that the church and the pastor would condemn this life style and type of politics period, I am not a big fan of you either but my faith comes first and politics second, thank you for your time and good luck.

When you get to know people, you are, in part, building a reputation with each other. "What kind of person is he?" "How does she handle a difficult situation?" "What kind of attitude does he bring to his work?" "How does she respond to confrontation or adversity?"

Over time, we learn whether a given person is honest, whether they can be relied upon, how playful they are, to what degree their actions reflect what they say. We get a sense of their style, their likes and their dislikes.

There are multitudes of small interactions that give us information about a person's character and personality, values and integrity. Over time we come to decide whether this is the kind of person we want to spend time with, whether we like how we feel when we're with them.

And they learn and make decisions about us.

Part of what we do in this back and forth of getting to know each other is determining whose feedback matters to us. A lecture on honesty from a dishonest person, or on manners from a rude person, is not worth listening to – unless they are a formerly dishonest or rude person who has learned something important from their past.

Here is a piece that is often missing: We watch ourselves just like we watch others, and we develop a reputation with ourselves accordingly.

Annapolis - "Governor O'Malley's slogan used to be 'believe' but that speech was pure make believe. The Governor continues to misuse facts to portray a false narrative of his administration's legacy. Only Martin O'Malley could actually call a 30 percent increase in spending and a budget he has increased by $9 billion as making government smaller and cutting more spending than any governor in history.

"The governor said he cut $8.3 billion but that's just not true. He has increased spending every single year since he has been governor, a total of more than $9 billion. So his math is off by more than $17 billion.

"He talked of making tough choices, but after 24 consecutive tax and fee hikes, the only tough choice he has to make is what can we possibly tax next?

"Governor O'Malley said we have the worst traffic congestion in the nation. On this we agree. But he failed to tell you that he is the reason we are in this predicament because he diverted funds from the transportation trust fund to pay for other things, and then of what was left in the transportation budget, he only allocated a tiny amount to roads.

"He talked about what he inherited. I was a cabinet secretary in the previous administration, and I can tell you that when we turned the keys over to the O'Malley administration, we had a billion dollar cash surplus in the bank, and the state was in the best fiscal shape it had been in decades.

"Just six years later and by any objective measure, by any objective group, the state is in far worse shape than ever before. Businesses, jobs and taxpayers are fleeing our state in record numbers. We have fallen behind all the states in our region and most states across the country in nearly every economic indicator.

"O'Malley's primary focus of this session seems to be making gas and electricity more expensive for working families and small businesses. He is again pushing the gas tax and an expensive windmill project guaranteed to drive up electric bills.

"Under Martin O'Malley there are 207,000 unemployed Marylanders. Since 2007, the private sector employment base Maryland desperately needs for long-term job growth has eroded. Approximately 6500 small businesses have left the state and Fortune 500 companies have left as well. I believe that's where he should have focused his attention.

"The governor is good at making up numbers, spinning magical tales, with no basis in reality. But, sadly the Governor's real legacy is a record of lost businesses, lost jobs, higher spending, record tax increases, and broken promises.

"Unfortunately he checked out of this job some time ago, and is focused on his next one. His entire focus is about his national political aspirations and not about the needs of average hard-working Marylanders who continue to struggle."

Of the over 74 million homes that are owned, 88.8 percent or 66 million are owned by someone born in the U.S.. Meanwhile, 8.3 million or 11.2 percent are owned by someone born abroad. Among these naturalized citizens owned 7.8 percent of homes, while non-citizens owned 3.4 percent.

Only 10 metros account for over 50 percent of the country's foreign-born households. Among these, New York and Los Angeles had over 1 million foreign-born households. On a state level, the largest number with foreign born households were California at 4 million, New York at 1.8 million, and Texas at 1.7 million, and Florida at 1.5 million.

Excerpted from Seth Klarman's Baupost 2012 Letter to investors,If economics were a hard science like chemistry, you’d mix a little of this with a bit of that and the concoction would lead to strong economic growth, full employment, rising home prices, buoyant financial markets, and low inflation every time. But economics is a soft science, and real life simply doesn’t work so predictably. Though economists might wish otherwise, economics is, at its core, behavioral.

Modern economies are too complex to be reliably modeled; their connections and correlations are loose and imprecise, the second- and third-order effects largely immeasurable, the fickle vagaries of individual and aggregate human behavior utterly unknowable. Put an economist in a powerful government job and provide levers that can be pulled to start the printing presses, set reserve requirements, fiddle with the Fed funds rate, expand the Fed’s balance sheet, and deliver indecipherable communiqués, and that economist will feel compelled to pull those levers.

He or she, like a monkey with a typewriter, might even give us Shakespeare (or Adam Smith) on occasion. But mostly that economist will spout gibberish, a mélange of untested and potentially counterproductive measures that unleash all manner of unintended consequences.

Were the meddling to actually remedy the targeted deficiency, it might well be at the cost of dangerous feedback loops and unexpected ripples growing beneath the surface into the incipient waves of tomorrow’s much larger problems.

Individuals on both sides of the gun control debate provided testimony during Wednesday morning’s U.S. Senate hearings on gun violence. Speaking in favor of firearms, Independent Women’s Forum Fellow Gayle Trotter ripped Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) for misunderstanding the Second Amendment and advocating for a ban on semi-automatic rifles.

Sen. Whitehouse used one specific example of an 18-year-old Oklahoma mom who shot and killed a home invader with a 12-gauge shotgun, which he said would not be banned under Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) gun control legislation.

“It proves the point that with ordinary firearms, not 100-magazine, peculiar types of artifacts — people are quite capable of defending themselves,” he added. For the record, no one is fighting for 100 round magazines and it’s unclear if he is referring to a specific incident.More

There are of course various distinctions that must be made within each broad class, but the point is the financial health of the nation ultimately depends on creating surplus value--value in excess of the costs of production and overhead.

Wealth that is incapable of generating new wealth is consumed, i.e. eating our seed corn: once the investable capital is gone, it is no longer available to leverage new wealth creation, and the nation spirals into poverty and conflict.

But-but-but "Time Magazine" assured me Obama's economic policies had made it all better:The Wall Street Journal said that around 500 people will be cut from the world's largest magazine company -- home to Time, Sports Illustrated and People, among others -- though other outlets said the numbers could reach as high as 700. That means that the roughly 8,000-strong workforce would be cut by between 6 and 8 percent.

Time Inc. is reportedly seeking around $100 million in savings from the cuts. Ad sales and publishing and subscription revenues have all declined. New CEO Laura Lang has been tasked with righting the ship.More

On Tuesday, January 29, 2013, the Neighborhood Watch Associations from Ocean City gathered at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center in the new Bay front Ballroom for their annual “Officer of the Year” recognition dinner. Nearly 170 guests attended the event, including Council President Lloyd Martin, Council Secretary Mary Knight, Council Member Margaret Pillas, Council Member Dough Cymek, Council member Dennis Dare and Council Member Joe Mitrecic. Also in attendance were OCPD employees, Ocean City residents and members of the eight Neighborhood Watch Associations in Ocean City, which consist of the Boardwalk Association, Bayshore Drive Association, Caine Keys II Association, Caine Woods Association, Edgewater Avenue Association, Little Salisbury Association, Montego Bay Association and Sundowner Park Association.

Ocean City Police Officer First Class (PFC) Christopher Snyder was selected to be the honorable recipient of the prestigious Ocean City Neighborhood Watch Association’s 2012 “Officer of the Year” award. Also nominated for the 2012 “Officer of the Year” award were Ocean City Police Detective First Class (DFC) Kyle Murray, PFC Daniel Jacobs, Corporal James Runkles, PFC Kevin Flower, and Corporal Rick Wawrzeniak.

The scans today showed that Brooke’s tumor is unchanged and that there are no new areas of concern. So stable is good…would love to have seen it gone but for now I will take stable. Her ALT level for her kidneys was really high however so she was unable to start this cycle of chemo. I am partly glad for her to be able to have some time off since she has been so sick the past couple of weeks but I’m also always concerned about missing chemo and feel that it gives the cancer a greater chance to fight back.

An unidentified man, using a shotgun like a club to break a former girl friend's windshield, accidentally shot himself to death when the gun discharged, blowing a hole in his head.

Nominee No. 2: [Kalamazoo Gazette]:

James Burns, 34, (a mechanic) of Alamo, MI, was killed in March as he was trying to repair what police describe as a "farm-type truck." Burns got a friend to drive the truck on a highway while Burns hung underneath so that he could ascertain the source of a

troubling noise. Burns' clothes caught on something, however, and the other man found Burns "wrapped in the drive shaft."

Nominee No. 3: [Hickory Daily Record]:

Ken Charles Barger, 47, accidentally shot himself to death in December in Newton, NC. Awakening to the sound of a ringing telephone beside his bed, he reached for the phone but grabbed instead a Smith & Wesson 38 Special, which discharged when he drew it tohis ear.

Nominee No. 4: [UPI, Toronto ]:

Police said a lawyer demonstrating the safety of windows in a downtown Toronto skyscraper crashed through a pane with his shoulder and plunged 24 floors to his death.? A police spokesman said Garry Hoy, 39, fell into the courtyard of the Toronto Dominion Bank

Tower early Friday evening as he was explaining the strength of the buildings windows to visiting law students. Hoy previously has conducted demonstrations of window strength according to police reports. Peter Lawson, managing partner of the firm Holden Day

Wilson, told the Toronto Sun newspaper that Hoy was "one of the best and brightest" members of the 200-man association. A person has to wonder what the dimmer members of this law firm are like.

Nominee No. 5: [The News of the Weird]:

Michael Anderson Godwin made News of the Weird posthumously.

He had spent several years awaiting South Carolina’s electric chair on a murder conviction before having his sentence reduced to life in prison. While sitting on a metal toilet in his cell attempting to fix his small TV set, he bit into a wire and was electrocuted.

Nominee No. 6: [The Indianapolis Star]:

A cigarette lighter may have triggered a fatal explosion in Dunkirk, IN. A Jay County man, using a cigarette lighter to check the barrel of a muzzleloader, was killed Monday night when the weapon discharged in his face, sheriff's investigators said. Gregory

David Pryor, 19, died in his parents' rural Dunkirk home at about 11:30 PM. Investigators said Pryor was cleaning a 54-caliber muzzle-loader that had not been firing properly. He was using the lighter to look into the barrel when the gunpowder ignited.

Nominee No. 7: [Reuters, Mississauga, Ontario ]:

A man cleaning a bird feeder on the balcony of his condominium apartment in this Toronto suburb slipped and fell 23 stories to his death. "Stefan Macho, 55, was standing on a wheelchair when the accident occurred," said Inspector Darcy Homer of the Peel Regional

Police. "It appears that the chair moved, and he went over the balcony," Homer said.

Finally, THE WINNER!!!: [Arkansas Democrat Gazette]:

Two local black men were injured when their pickup truck left the road and struck a tree near Cotton Plant on State Highway 38 early Monday. Woodruff County deputy Dovey Snyder reported the accident shortly after midnight Monday. Thurston Poole, 33, of Des Arc, and Billy Ray Wallis, 38, of Little Rock , were returning to Des Arc after a frog-catching trip. On an overcast Sunday night, Poole 's pickup truck headlights malfunctioned.

The two men concluded that the headlight fuse on the older-model truck had burned out. As a replacement fuse was not available, Wallis noticed that the .22 caliber bullets from his pistol fit perfectly into the fuse box next to the steering-wheel column.

Upon inserting the bullet the headlights again began to operate properly, and the two men proceeded on eastbound toward the White River Bridge ..

After traveling approximately 20 miles, and just before crossing the river, the bullet apparently overheated, discharged and struck Poole in the testicles. The vehicle swerved sharply right, exited the pavement, and struck a tree. Poole suffered only minor cuts and abrasions from the accident but will require extensive surgery to repair the damage to his testicles, which will never operate as intended.

Wallis sustained a broken clavicle and was treated and released. "Thank God we weren't on that bridge when Thurston shot his balls off or we might be dead," stated Wallis

"I've been a trooper for 10 years in this part of the world, but this is a first for me. I can't believe that those two would admit how this accident happened," said Snyder.

Upon being notified of the wreck, Lavonia (Poole’s wife) asked how many frogs the boys had caught and did anyone get them from the truck? Though Poole and Wallis did not die as a result of their misadventure as normally required by Darwin Award Official Rules, it can be argued that Poole did in fact effectively remove himself from the gene pool.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is at it again, a prominent Maryland Republican said Wednesday.

Sen. E.J. Pipkin, R-Cecil, the minority leader of the state Senate, called O'Malley's 2013 State of the State address a "national agenda speech," noting that O'Malley has aspirations for higher office after his service as Maryland's governor is over.

O'Malley's second term as governor - his last, under term limits - ends in January 2015. There is speculation he will run for president in 2016, but he hasn't announced his intentions.

“Ultimately, however, as the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter pointed out, a powerful bureaucratic class is in the same relation to commerce as was the scorpion in Aesop to the dog on whose back he crossed the river. They will destroy commerce and establish socialism, even if it kills them, because that is their nature.” — John Derbyshire

“Never mind that the new Visitors Center in Washington DC cost the taxpayers $621 million. Oh and that was ONLY $550 million more than the project was originally supposed to cost. Not to mention the fact that it was supposed to open three years ago .. but it was a government operation. What do you expect? I definitely want to put these people in charge of my healthcare and my retirement plan.” – Neal Boortz

“We know that anything government does private enterprise can do for half the cost.” — Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Dr. Milton Friedman to Charlie Rose 12-26-2005

“Every time government attempts to handle our affairs, it costs more and the results are worse than if we had handled them ourselves.” — Benjamin Constant

“Think about what government does; government wastes most of what it spends.”– David Henderson

“Government does not do ANYthing as well as the private sector does, and that includes educating your children.” — Neal Boortz

“Every time a politician says “a job was created!!!” by government spending, you know darn well at least TWO jobs (if not a lot more) were NOT created in the private sector as a result. Look up “THE BROKEN WINDOW FALLACY.” — Bert Rand

The scans today showed that Brooke’s tumor is unchanged and that there are no new areas of concern. So stable is good…would love to have seen it gone but for now I will take stable. Her ALT level for her kidneys was really high however so she was unable to start this cycle of chemo. I am partly glad for her to be able to have some time off since she has been so sick the past couple of weeks but I’m also always concerned about missing chemo and feel that it gives the cancer a greater chance to fight back.

Today the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released their latest Local Area Workforce data for Wicomico County. According to the latest report - Wicomico County continues to bleed jobs. Wicomico County has lost another 504 jobs when comparing December 2011 to December 2012.

In December 2011 - the BLS reported that Wicomico County had 53,213 in the workforce whereas in December 2012 Wicomico County has 52,709 in the workforce. From February 2011 through December 2012 Wicomico County has lost 2,716 Workforce personnel. These people have basically vanished from the employment scene. This condition is totally unsustainable.

Labor Force Data By County, Not Seasonally Adjusted - 02/11
through 12/12

If we understand the simple dynamics of value creation, total compensation costs and the cost-basis of doing business (general overhead), then we understand why employment isn't coming back in the U.S.

It is impossible to understand job creation without understanding value creation and labor/overhead costs. People hire other people when their labor creates more value than it costs to hire them.When labor costs are high, the value created must also be high; it makes no sense to hire someone if doing so generates a loss.When labor is cheap, the bar of value creation is lowered, and so the risk of hiring a worker is also lower: they don't have to add much value to be worth their wage.

This is why you see many low-value jobs in developing-world countries. There are night watchmen on duty in virtually every parking lot and building in urban Thailand, for example; these workers are providing a fundamental value, "eyes on the street," but it is a low-value proposition: no special skill is required other than being a light sleeper. The cost of their labor is equivalently low, but in a low-cost basis economy such as Thailand's, a very low wage is still a living wage.

In a self-employment example, many vendors in urban Thailand set up their informal food stall (a cart or a tent) for a few hours a day. Their net income is low, because what they provide--readymade food and snacks--is available in abundance, i.e. there are many competitors.

Nonetheless, because the cost basis of life is relatively low, modest earnings from a low cost, low-profit enterprise make the enterprise worthwhile.

Compare that with the typical government job in the U.S. or Europe. It is difficult to measure the true cost of government pension costs, as local governments do their best to mask their pension costs and inflate their pension funds' projected returns. But a back-of-the-envelope calculation yields about a 100% direct labor overhead cost for the typical government job with full healthcare, pension and vacation benefits. So an employee earning $50,000 a year costs $100,000 in total compensation expenses.

Many local government employees on the left and right coasts earn close to $100,000, so their total compensation costs are roughly $200,000 per worker.

How much value must be created by each employee to justify that compensation? Government needn't bother itself with that calculation, as the compensation is not set by market forces and the revenue stream can be increased via higher taxes, junk fees, tuition, licences, permits, etc.

As the legacy costs of healthcare and pensions for retirees become due, local government operating budgets are being gutted to pay these ballooning legacy costs.More